I. WHY DID IT OCCUR?
SOCIAL IMPACTS
ODDITIES
1518 -People suddenly began to dance throughout Europe.
-In Bergamo, Italy - documents tell of 2 ghostly armies that fought
-In Poland, a monstrous baby was born.
PARANOIA
1524 - Prior to this date, 2 Germans had compiled what would compare to a farmer's almanac and had said that "1524 will be a very wet year". Europe thought this could possibly be a second flood.
1527 - The Sack of Rome - Troops of Charles the V over troops of Pope Clement, resulted in collective guilt as the Italians saw this as the judgment from God - a "rape of their land".
1529 - The Turks almost took Vienna (The center of the Empire).
Copernicus - challenged the church with his heliocentric theory, which placed the sun at the center of the universe, not the earth.
Martin Luther, in 1517, with his 95 Theses, literally tore the Catholic church to the ground.....
ANTI-CLERICALISM - an abuse of the power of the clergy
Secular
Economic
Legal
Social
Sexual
II. HOW DID THIS IMPACT THE ARTISTS' LIVES?
1) Suicide
2) Aberrant Behavior
3) Lives of crime
4) Critical self-dissatisfaction
III. HOW DID THE MANNERISTS VIEW THEMSELVES?
They maintained a totally different attitude than the Renaissance artists.
1) They were no longer compelled to adhere to others' desires.
2) Their art was not based on nature; it transcended it.
3) They competed for recognition / commissions.
IV. MANNERIST CHARACTERISTICS
•Basically, it is like looking at 'collective neuroses on canvas'.
•All order, clarity, unity, harmony is GONE!
•It is a willful and deliberate misuse of time-honored Renaissance principles - an art based on whimsy and caprice.
1) Composition - up-side-down pyramidal shape, compressed space
2) Clashing colors
3) Spatial Discrepancies
4) Light Source - inconsistent in direction and or intensity
5) Non-art objects and people included in works as art objects
(non-functional; purely decorative)
6) Twisted, difficult poses (S-curve / Figura Serpentinata)
7) Intentional shock-value - horror used as an element of shock
8) Exorbitant amounts of money spent on common, everyday objects
(i.e. salt & pepper shakers)
9) Untitled works - intentionally leaving a work untitled
10) Deviation from or elaboration of a theme
11) Secularization of the sacred
Examine the 4 artists listed, making note of their respective works. Once you gain an understanding of the what Mannerism is (the designation given to art after the High Renaissance), list the characteristics inherent in each of the works beneath.
Pontormo
 |
| Entombment |
Tiontoretto
 |
| Last Supper |
Bronzino
 |
| Venus, Cupid, Folly & Time |
Parmigianino
 |
| Madonna of the Long Neck |
